Author Topic: [RELEASE]GTI Ceres  (Read 15605 times)

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Offline Black Wolf

  • Twisted Infinities
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Cast your mind back to the distant past... the early 2000s. Freespace modding was in its infancy. Mods were much rare, modders were rarer. If you wanted a ship in your mission, you had [V]s stuff and not much else. If you wanted a Terran station in your mission, you used the Arcadia. That was it. For a still developing FREDder who wanted to tell smaller-scale stories, around civilians and backwater outposts, that just wasn't good enough. My hands were tied.

There was, however, hope on the horizon. The Blackwater Operations campaign had posted some pictures of something I desperately wanted - a small station. And not just a small station. A fricken gorgeous one:





Now, I know that to 2016 eyes, that's... pretty ordinary. But at the time, it was something special - it was a unique asset with design and texturing that, to the untrained eye, was basically retail quality - and at the time, that was about as high a compliment as you could give. This was one of a very small number of assets that I was desperate for (another was the GVB Menhit from Scroll). I must have looked as these pictures dozens of times, just imagining the kinds of missions I could make once BWO came out, and I knew that that wouldn't be far off. After all, the assets were already done, right?

So, obviously, time passed, and things changed. Mods started to become more plentiful but, apart from Axem's amazing Asteria, small stations didn't. I gradually learned to mod, and eventually got tired of waiting for other people, so I started building and releasing my own small stations, but I never quite forgot the Ceres. It was, in a matter of speaking, the inspiration, the big fish, the one that got away. Even after all the engine improvements, high poly limits, rejection of tilemapping - all the changes notwithstanding, I never quite took off my nostalgia goggles for the Ceres. So it was with a degree of excitement and trepidation that I agreed to take on the challenge of modernizing the Ceres when Raven asked me to, about eighteen months ago.

He mentioned that the station was supposed to be modular, and had two very different roles in the campaign, so I knew that I had to make at least two variants. I did up a basic mesh and put all the different greebles I wanted to use on it, textured it, then stripped away the ones I didn't need for each type. Progress was very stop-start, as it often is with me, but eventually I got to a point where I was happy with the results I had, and it was time to let it out into the wild. It was always the agreement that I would on;y build the HTL on the condition that it be released upon completion, rather than with the cmapign proper. So, without further ado, I present two HTL Ceres class stations.










Quote
When the first Shivan threat had receded following the destruction of the Lucifer, the full extent of the damage to GTA and GVN fleets as well as military and civilian installations became apparent. Wishing to return Allied systems to economic and military security, every effort was made to rebuild what the Shivans had destroyed as rapidly as possible. It was at this time that the GTI Ceres was conceived. Though a relatively small installation, Alliance technicians still found it possible to cram the same vital equipment into the Ceres that larger stations had held - though the result was a less than comfortable existence for the crew.  Over fifty Ceres-class installations were built during the reconstruction, tailored to roles as varied as storage, habitation or laboratory space due to the modular, all-purpose nature of the Ceres frame. In time, these small bases were replaced by grander installations. Despite this, the Ceres remains popular with civilians, as distant outposts or as a low-profile base of operations within Alliance space.

Enjoy!
« Last Edit: March 03, 2016, 05:27:29 am by Black Wolf »
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Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp

 

Offline niffiwan

  • 211
  • Eluder Class
NIiiiice, great to see another station released :) :yes:
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Offline 0rph3u5

  • 211
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*scrambles to download*

Thank you sooooo soooo much

EDIT: Is there a reason why PCS2 keeps crashing when opening the .pof?
« Last Edit: March 03, 2016, 05:19:20 am by 0rph3u5 »
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 

Offline Black Wolf

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It definitely works in PCS2 here - what version are you using? I have an older build (PCS 2.1 Alpha, Dec 30 2013). Does it work ingame in the F3 lab? I tested it many times before release, but something might have been corrupted during compression or uploading, I guess?
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp

 

Offline niffiwan

  • 211
  • Eluder Class
Both variants seem to load ok in PCS2 for me, mine was built from source in August 2014 (which seems to be the latest version of the code).
Creating a fs2_open.log | Red Alert Bug = Hex Edit | MediaVPs 2014: Bigger HUD gauges | 32bit libs for 64bit Ubuntu
----
Debian Packages (testing/unstable): Freespace2 | wxLauncher
----
m|m: I think I'm suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Bmpman is starting to make sense and it's actually written reasonably well...

 

Offline 0rph3u5

  • 211
  • Oceans rise. Empires fall.
It definitely works in PCS2 here - what version are you using? I have an older build (PCS 2.1 Alpha, Dec 30 2013). Does it work ingame in the F3 lab? I tested it many times before release, but something might have been corrupted during compression or uploading, I guess?

May 2008 ... "no wonder it doesn't work with your fancy new paper if it it programmed to work only on stone tablets"

Ingame is fine
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 

Offline Raven2001

  • Machina Terra Reborn
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I hope you guys enjoy this release! Expect to see some more assets released publicly, as soon as they are finished by their respective authors :)
Yeah, I know you were waiting for a very nice sig, in which I was quoting some very famous scientist or philosopher... guess what?!? I wont indulge you...

Why, you ask? What, do I look like a Shivan to you?!?


Raven is a god.

 

Offline Galemp

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Good job BW. :)

I can't see much difference between the two types in the screenshots, though... also, I recommend correcting the tech room description to the PVN, there's never been a GVN.
"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he's supposed to be doing at that moment." -- Robert Benchley

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Offline Black Wolf

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If you DL the models and have a look the differences are pretty obvious. They have different greebles (Panels vs. dish on top, dishes around the central column, T-Gas1 cradles), plus one has a fighterbay while the other has that sealed off and a reactor inside.

As for the TD, that came direct from the original BWO tables, up to the guys more directly involved in the campaign to decide on exactly how they want to word it - I'm deliberately keeping out of that side of it a bit, and just building assets, so I can still play the campaign and not be completely spoiled. :)
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp

 

Offline Raven2001

  • Machina Terra Reborn
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Back then, some tech descriptions were written in a rush, so they are prone to gaffes such as GVN. It will be changed, though, when we go through an overall lore pass on the tech room. Thanks for pointing that out :)
Yeah, I know you were waiting for a very nice sig, in which I was quoting some very famous scientist or philosopher... guess what?!? I wont indulge you...

Why, you ask? What, do I look like a Shivan to you?!?


Raven is a god.

 

Offline wardog300k

  • 28
  • I'm a FREDder
Any chance on releasing the original low poly model? I'd like to have it.
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Offline Raven2001

  • Machina Terra Reborn
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Sure, it's attached on this post. Both the retail era model, as well as Bobboau's HTL from the old days.

[attachment DELETED!! by Strong Bad]
Yeah, I know you were waiting for a very nice sig, in which I was quoting some very famous scientist or philosopher... guess what?!? I wont indulge you...

Why, you ask? What, do I look like a Shivan to you?!?


Raven is a god.

 

Offline wardog300k

  • 28
  • I'm a FREDder
Nice, thanks! I'm gonna have some fun dockin' ships to this thing! (Or throwing black hole bombs at it, cause why not?)
Crush the NTF-Conflict Zone
One last war, one last hope, one last survival-Final Destination On Delay
Set free from the GTVA-Liberation Wars On Delay

 

Offline Nyctaeus

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That's exactly what I need for years - awesome, hi poly replacement for Bretonia! Great work BW :D! I already have usage for this. I forgot to post some kind words, because of all the Exile related mess :P.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2016, 12:23:03 pm by Betrayal »
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Offline Goober5000

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Sure, it's attached on this post. Both the retail era model, as well as Bobboau's HTL from the old days.

You might want to mirror that somewhere because attachments are deleted after a period of time.

 

Offline Raven2001

  • Machina Terra Reborn
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Good point!

http://www.mediafire.com/download/os1lvqcwe8p7t6e/GTI_Ceres_Old.rar

BlackWolf, could you also put this link on your original post?
Yeah, I know you were waiting for a very nice sig, in which I was quoting some very famous scientist or philosopher... guess what?!? I wont indulge you...

Why, you ask? What, do I look like a Shivan to you?!?


Raven is a god.

 

Offline Xelion

  • 28
  • In the Ether
Nice work BW ;)

Hope you don't mind, I've uploaded it to FreeSpace Files on SG - http://sectorgame.com/fsfiles/?dir=uploads/Models/Stationary%20Objects

 

Offline Conspark

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That is gorgeous. Even the original is still a thing of beauty. New, custom stations are something that's sort of slipped my mind in the grand scheme of fan-made FS content.
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Offline Bobboau

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You might want to mirror that somewhere because attachments are deleted after a period of time.

You know, I can't believe we never got around to having a mod/asset hosting system on HLP.
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Offline NeonShivan

  • Previously known as BTA
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You know, I can't believe we never got around to having a mod/asset hosting system on HLP.

Wouldn't that jack up the prices for the servers though, also should consider the amount of space needed to store all the models, all the textures (old and new), etc.
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